reference round ups !!!

 The Rituals Continue:

What is boredom?

If you ask me, I would say that it is the reference days during weekends. Time would be world’s slowest snail creeping second by second with incredible sluggishness that you feel that you are not born in an inhabited planet. The effect is pronounced in the forenoon session. There would be none patrolling to see whether we are asleep. There won’t be any familiar faces around you. Till 10:30 you will drag yourself between an incomplete sleep and a nerve wrenching problem from the GRB. Usual reference machaans were I myself, Bribin, Rahul, Vijay Baby and Nuwais. I still remember Nuwais running for the bus in the last minute with a half buttoned shirt and partially clad trousers and badly made up hair.

Oh!!! Before we start off for reference, let me describe one particular incident that occurred in connection with our bus. Ours was a bright olive green bud with white stripes on it (or vice versa, I don’t remember). Our driver was a man in his mighty 50s. We don’t know his name actually. We used to call him Ummachan(consider those infinite permutations of that name, hehe). So our dear Ummachan used to nag us with every possible trick he had. One of his favorite tricks was to play a song for almost a thousand times. Brilliant had no hesitance in spending money in fitting good quality audio systems in the buses (mostly, a Sony Xplod or Pioneer. But whatever it may be, it still was never used for the right purpose). So what this guy did was, he had certain odd favorites among the songs played (we gave him almost three CDs, but those three never really appeared in the player. Still it remains a mystery). All the time it used to be a “Theyn theyn theyn” from Kuruvi or a head ache from the film Ada. “Ishq vada hai, ishq vada hai…”it went so on and so forth (the ‘Vada’s in the lyrics is sponsored by Hari, of course) and the most hectic of them all, a Tamil song, “Kaathoram lolakk…” (We used to curse him with the lousiest dialect, yet what he only did was to increase the volume to make it more unbearable). Going through all this toil we were shipped back and forth between the college and hostel.

So on this particular morning, when we were waiting for bus (most of us. some of them always came after the bus was there). The time was almost 8. So this guy Ummachan started to growl his engine so as to make the late comers hasten. It was Richard, Sen and Vishnu who were running towards the bus. As soon as they came yards close to the bus, he stepped on the gas and the bus started off. Richard and Vishnu were running behind the bus like wild hogs. They tapped on the bus, but it didn’t stop. But instead, that wicked driver slowed it down, so that he can make them run a bit more. Finally when he stopped the bus to let them in, it was almost half a mile from the stop.

Richard as soon as entering the bus unleashed his rage onto the driver (He even called every one of that driver’s family members. Boy what a swearing…). There was a brief confusion before the bus started again.

When we reached college, this man Ummachan got out and grabbed poor Vishnu by his collar, mistaking him as the one who cursed him. he started muttering “Ninakkenne ariyilla. Njaney chavakkattu karana. Ennodu kalichaal niyokke vivaram ariyum.” Poor Vishnu got scared like hell and was begging “Njaanonnum cheythille, enne veruthe vidane…” (I am not quite sure he cried then…). The matter reached Stephen sir and from there it reached Manjesh sir. Ummachan was called upon to testify. That evening it was the turn for Richard’s hearing, in the Pala House. But instead of hearing anything, Manjesh sir started firing him. Some sort of a pin drop silence was fallen over the hostel that night, so that every word from Manjesh sir from down below, came clearly to us in the top floor. But that day we were all unanimously supporting Richard n his stand. He was the only one who had the balls to ask against the atrocities of that cunning Ummachan. Of course he got all the beating for himself. But that night Manjesh sir too was pretty reasonable with his argument, since his words too made sense. If such a thing was happening against us, we could have told Manjesh sir about it at the first place rather than going on retaliating against it head on. But that problem was over that very same night itself. Because of that however, one positive thing came into being. No more “Kaathoram lolakk…”

Back to reference guys. We would reach the college by 8:30 or 9. Every eye inside the bus would be searching hungrily on the roadside for eye candy sights in front of biological hotspots namely ‘Alphonsa’, ‘Assumption’, ‘Sacred Heart’, Shanti’ and the fanfare walking to the college from ‘Little Flower’ and ‘Vandana’ (For those who are not familiar with these names, they are those ladies hostels, where the oceanic masses of girls in pursuit of a professional degree seat are nested). Even if we didn’t catch a glance of any of them, we are still not disheartened, since there is plenty more time to mouth-look inside the campus.

Our Stephen sir knew the catastrophic chemistry of containing boys and girls altogether inside one building (there were some real bad repercussions too...). So he didn’t place girls anywhere near boys while on reference. Boys and girls were in separate rooms. We boys would usually go to the top floor of the building, much more like a thatched rooftop pantry car; it was too hot and dark. But who cares, if it makes a great place to sleep.  I used to take a short nap of about 2 hours before the morning break. And a small 1 hour nap afterwards. All these times I may be having a gigantic yet Arihant (Gibberish) or GRB (More gibberish…) in front of me. Yet not bothering to look into it, I would doze off. After the break I would go near the earthen water pots, to get a recharge. Of course those pots have been the occasional sight round every corner in every floor, and has been playing pivotal role in my brilliant days.

Fact File: The Earthen Pots:

Brilliant never made you thirsty to dead.  So there were earthen pots filled with water every 10 meters in every floor to ease up the “vellamkudippikkal” process. It has been very refreshing to take a sip of that water, when you are already being bombed by killer MCQs and wrenching exams.  Those pots were also markers for “cargo” location. As Hari once mentioned, we were two vayinokkis standing near the coffee shop on the banks of the drainage leaning against the wall with coffee in our hands looking at those beauties standing near the earthen pots. “The blonde girl near the pot to the left of zoology staff room or the white salwar clad girl near the pot on the third floor…” and so it went. Those pots were the unmistaken cornerstones of the Brilliant landscape.

Afternoons were fairly jolly compared to forenoons. We would comfortable reassemble ourselves in new and convenient positions so as to meet the basic requirements of chitchat.

After a round of heavy discussions, finally my eyes go down onto those books. Oh, my god. It’s like the whole purpose of dragging those books weighing two tons from their shelves for absolutely no purpose, makes me even more sober (Ennalum padikkila. Nombarapettond rikkan oru sukham allae..:p)

By the time I ran through the first line of the page lying open in front of me, there rings that sweet bell of tea break. Padikanath pinnem aavaam. But vaazhakkappam pinne kaanathilla.

So here I am, devouring my banana fry as if it’s the most delicious delicacy. Tea time will end soon, and then we found ourselves again in front of the reference books, a whole lot of new books now.

When I am in the bus back to Pala house, carrying my Porotta and curry (And most probable the Porottas and curries for those at hostel too…), its nearly 7 in the night. After reaching the room, my interest is diverted to the usual night routine.

Balu, Nidarsan, Rahul and Mathew would be there in the study room waiting for me… sometimes for their Porottas and curry. But most of the times it would be for some other reason.